Photo Credit: Sergei Bachlakov/Lifetime Television
[Warning: Spoilers in article, images, video, and panel recap.]
The lovely ladies of Fairhaven kick off the second season of Witches of East End in various states of distress following the events of the season finale, where Ingrid was shot and forced to open Asgard, Freya chose a brother, Joanna was injected with Argentium, and Dash and Killian had their powers activated when Penelope died, which Dash used to seemingly kill Killian.
The season premiere is set a few weeks after the finale. Victor is keeping watch over a very ill Joanna, and Ingrid, Joanna, and Wendy have all blocked out what happened when the door opened. Freya is doing her best to find just the right spell to help them remember, and heal her mom, but she’s increasingly distressed that she can’t locate Killian. Dash, meanwhile, is trying to tap his mojo again while Killian haunts him. And there’s a new somebody (or somebodies) out in the woods, and one of them has an uber-disturbing tie to Ingrid. It’s a strong, sad, scary, funny episode and a great start to the season.
Photo Credit: Sergei Bachlakov/Lifetime Television
The second season promises to be darker than the first–”Darkness is Rising” is the new tagline, and Lifetime launched teh ad campaign with a series of promos set to Marilyn Manson’s “Beautiful People.” Last month, we attended the ATX Festival panel with producers Richard Hatem and Maggie Friedman , and actress Rachel Boston, who plays Ingrid, and they teased that this season, “all hell’s breaking loose.” They talked about adapting the books series for TV, finding their rhythms, and the evolution to an edgier show that still keeps the humor intact.
Photo Credit: Heather M./TV Goodness
First off, they shared that there’s a new Director of Photography this year, which will give the show a darker, richer look. Boston said the opening of the portal has given them new opportunities to take the Beauchamps somewhere different. “This whole other universe has opened up. We’re not sure what is around is now,” she said. “Ingrid’s journey has been extraordinary. She started out [hesitant about being a witch] but now she has embraced it, and has accepted [that she is] the key.”
Friedman spilled a major spoiler that’s not revealed in the premiere–the newly-arrived Frederick (Christian Cooke from Magic City) is Freya’s twin. “Together, they can do special spells they can’t do apart,” she said. “[There's] conflict between Wendy and Joanna because Wendy thinks he has ulterior motives.”
Photo Credit: Sergei Bachlakov/Lifetime Television
Friedman and Hatem also shared they’re developing a bigger, better (I beg to differ until seen) version of love geometry. “The love triangle will get spun into a completely new direction…as a relationship is formed that you don’t expect,” said Friedman, while Hatem went ahead and promised, “We’ll have a love pentagram.”
Friedman shared that Wendy was a construct for the show–she is not a character in the books. “I invented her for the pilot in order to kill her so I could show [that] bad things happen,” she said. “Then Mädchen [Amick] came along and we realized we couldn’t kill her.” Hatem added that it didn’t hurt that she’s willing to take her clothes off all the time. Amick happily told the producers that Wendy’s nakedness wouldn’t be an issue because people were always telling her to put her clothes back on.
Photo Credit: Sergei Bachlakov/Lifetime Television
Boston recalled that she met Amick for the first time during a lightning storm in Wilmington, North Carolina, just before they shot the pilot (the show has since moved to Vancouver). “She’s fearless. I was out on the porch of our hotel watching the storm,” she said. “All of a sudden, I heard a metal shopping cart rolling along the sidewalk, and it was Mädchen [with her groceries].”
Her favorite moments from the first season involved the arc with Adam. “I loved ghost Adam and getting to say goodbye,” she said. “That [Ingrid] could do that because she was witch vs. human.” Friedman added that she thought that arc was “sad, beautiful, and romantic.” She also loved “Unburied,” which focused on Ingrid’s past life.
The team promised flashbacks will a big part of season two, as well. “I love that flashbacks inform the present day story,” said Frideman. “And it’s fun to put them in costumes and see them in other time periods.” Boston added that it’s also nice to see the depth of the characters expanded in those scenes.
Boston laughed that her 8th grade Latin has come in handy playing Ingrid, and she wowed the audience by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, all the way through, in Latin. She loves the moments with all the witches in the same room. “It’s a dream show for me,” she said. “I love [Ingrid's] heart, and the ability to heal and her compassion.”
Hatem likes the balance of witchcraft with living a human life. “There’s a great line [in the premiere] where Ingrid asks why everything is still so difficult if she’s the key. “They have the powers but their roads are not easy at all,” he said. “Weird things come your way. Weird things come for Ingrid.” Boston added that Ingrid opened a door to another world and monsters came out.
Hatem talked a little bit about the source material vs. the show and said they’re definitely not following the Game of Thrones model of mirroring the books. “We’ve done ten books worth of story [in the first season],” he said. “Hopefully the [future] books will copy us.” Friedman added that the script coordinator has a bible [to keep track of the scripts and plots], and the cast is very good about dinging them when they contradict themselves vs. previous episodes.
As for how dark is “dark,” the team said they’re trying to keep it organic, but the network has been pretty much open to anything after the success of Flowers in the Attic. “The relationships keep it fun and the women give each other [a hard time],” said Friedman. “We’ve gone very dark but we still have the humor or it’s punishing.” They added, “We play with the worry of their deaths. They could all die at any time.”
Eep. We’ll definitely be watching. The last three episodes of the first season air Sunday morning starting at 11/10c, and the season two premiere, “A Moveable Beast,” airs Sunday night on Lifetime at 9/8c. Here are a couple of sneak peeks and a look behind the scenes: